Plant Metabolism

Prof. Dr. Peter Geigenberger

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geigenberger@lmu.de

+49 89 2180 74710

E01.023

CRC TRR 175

Research

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Plants are able to use light energy to convert atmospheric CO2 into organic sugars, generating most of the biomass of our planet through plastid photosynthesis. These sugars are used to support growth and build up important storage compounds that are also important for human nutrition, renewable resources and bioenergy. A general goal of our work is to better understand important signals and molecular mechanisms that control plant metabolism and allow plants to acclimate to environmental fluctuations related to light, temperature or precipitation, which are increasing due to climate change.

On the one hand, we are investigating thioredoxins and their reductases as important modulators in controlling acclimation of photosynthesis and carbon metabolism in response to fluctuations in light intensity or temperature (see DFG TRR175 B02). On the other hand, we are researching signaling pathways for the adaptation of plant metabolism to low oxygen concentrations, which occur chronically in certain plant organs or in an acute manner during flooding events in response to heavy rainfall.

These studies are mainly carried out with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. In more applied approaches, we are also pursuing an analysis of metabolic networks in heterotrophic storage tissues with the aim of deciphering mechanisms of assimilate and energy partitioning in crop plants. All of this will be finally important to develop “climate-proof” plants.

Methods and Approaches

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We use a combination of systems biology and hypothesis-driven approaches, with an emphasis on integrated analysis of plant metabolism in different genotypes and environmental conditions. This involves an unbiased profiling of global metabolites, transcripts and proteins together with bioinformatic tools to identify nodes and integrators that mediate the regulation and adaptation of metabolism to external factors. To investigate the importance of these regulatory components, targeted analyses are being employed. In combination with reverse genetics, we apply advanced biochemical techniques, which allow a deeper analysis of protein function. This involves GFP-reporter constructs to visualize their intracellular movement, redox-proteomics to quantify their thiol-reduction states, and size-exclusion chromatography to investigate regulatory protein complexes.

Key Publications

Leger-Paul MV*, Renziehausen T, Rauschmayer ML, González-Campo D, Wiens LJM, Baumgärtner JK, Schneider K, Seydel C, Klingl A, Lehmann M, Leister D, Schmidt-Schippers RR, Geigenberger P* (2026) Plastid-to-nucleus communication under hypoxia involves group VII ethylene response factors in Arabidopsis thaliana. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 123(3), e2525801123. *shared corresponding authorship https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2525801123

Hou LY, Sommer F, Poeker L, Dziubek D, Schroda M, Geigenberger P (2024) The impact of light and thioredoxins on the plant thiol-disulfide proteome. Plant Physiol 195(2), 1536-1560. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad669

Dziubek D, Poeker L, Siemiątkowska B, Graf A, Marino G, Alseekh S, Arrivault S, Fernie AR, Armbruster U, Geigenberger P (2024) NTRC and thioredoxins m1/m2 underpin the light acclimation of plants on proteome and metabolome levels. Plant Physiol 194(2), 982-1005. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiad535

Teh JT, Leitz V, Holzer VJC, Neusius D, Marino G, Meitzel T, García-Cerdán JG, Dent RM, Niyogi KK, Geigenberger P*, Nickelsen J* (2023) NTRC regulates CP12 to activate Calvin–Benson cycle during cold acclimation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 120(33), e2306338120. *shared corresponding authorship https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306338120

Thormählen I, Zupok A, Rescher J, Leger J, Weissenberger S, Groysman J, Orwat A, Chatel-Innocenti G, Issakidis-Bourguet E, Armbruster U, Geigenberger P (2017) Thioredoxins play a crucial role in dynamic acclimation of photosynthesis in fluctuating light. Mol Plant 10(1), 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2016.11.012

Complete list of publications of Peter Geigenberger see Google Scholar via goggle scholar